Anyone familiar with etsy.com?

Question

Is anyone familiar with this website? I was thinking of making some jewlery but ebay seems complictaed with the bidding and all of that.

With etsy..its a buy right on the spot deal, right?

How do I get started? Should I just focus on one style of earring or necklace and make a bunch of those to sell first? And then later on add styles?

How do I decide on what to charge for each peice?

As you can see, I have alot of questions. Any type of answer would be helpful.

How much money do you think I could make a month? Im only 17..but I can put things in my moms name if I have to

Answer 1

Wow, Snow left a great answer, I think she said everything I was thinking.  My only suggestion is to start out slow, especially if you're 17....don't make more then you can sell...you can always make more if things go well. :)   Good luck, etsy is a great market to sell things.

Answer 2

that first person had a good answer.

check out my shop:

www.xmiracle.etsy.com

Answer 3

I have a store site on Etsy and a few other places as well as my own website.

Jewelry is a heavily saturated market in every one of them.  You will need to promote heavily to make sales.  That said, here's some more answers to your questions.

Etsy is membership based.  That includes the buyers - but it's free.  You will need to get your mom to sign you up until you turn 18 and have your own credit card.  It's a legally binding contract to enter into business with them.

Make sure you know your craft.  Are you planning on making wire jewelry, beaded jewelry, strung designs, lampwork what?  It's good to find something unusual or different and concentrate on that first.  Then, as you build your customer base, you can add more designs more commonly found.

There's a formula for figuring out your pricing.  You must factor in your time as well as your materials and balance that against the prevailing market.  Do some looking around in there.  You don't have to be a member to look or to read the forums.  Do some searches in the forums using key word searches like "pricing" "prices" "price formula" etc.

You can make as much money as you can promote and sell product.  There are other sites that host shops too.  Be sure to investigate those too.  Also check Craftersbuzz.com That's a free gallery and you can sell from your home.  They also host websites at a very reasonable price.

No matter where you choose to sell... you have to work hard at promoting it.  It can take a year or more for a website to do well.

Good luck to you!